A federal judge in California has ruled that law enforcement can’t compel a suspect to unlock their phone with a fingerprint or face recognition. Combined with a previous court ruling that held police cannot force a suspect to tell them their password, we’re getting some clarity on the future of search and seizure in the United States.

Back in November, just days before Samsung teased its flexible displayphone, Royole burst onto the scene with the Flexpai, the world’s first bendy phone. Sadly, demos were held in San Francisco, and I was in New York. By the time I found out, there simply wasn’t enough time for me to get there.

On June 16, 2018, a stupendously bright explosion tore across the cosmos and lingered in the sky above Earth for several weeks. The mysterious blast traveled 200 million light-years from the gut of the Herculesconstellation, shone with the light of nearly 100 supernovas and captured the attention of the world’s stargazers until, finally, it vanished from the sky as mysteriously at it appeared.

IBM today unveiled its first ever quantum computer designed for commercial use, the sleek-looking IBM Q System One. The company says it has no plans to sell the device, but will instead allow customers to perform quantum calculations over the internet.

As recent volcanic events in both Hawaii and Guatemala have reminded us, our planet is alive and ever-changing. But while little shifts during the course of our short lives, the differences over hundreds of millions of years are nothing short of dramatic.

A team of researchers recently discovered an ancient relic hidden within Earth: a tectonic plate resting beneath the southern Indian Ocean. Scientists have found other tectonic plates that sank below Eurasia and North America, but here Simmons et al. describe the unique structure of this newly discovered slab, which they named the Southeast Indian Slab (SEIS).

Academics at the University of Warwick have found that low functional connectivity of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex that is associated with the tendency to smoke is associated with increased impulsiveness – which may contribute to the tendency to smoke. The high connectivity of the reward-related medial orbitofrontal cortex in drinkers may increase the tendency to be attracted to the reward of alcohol consumption.

Mind time and clock time are two totally different things. They flow at varying rates.

The chronological passage of the hours, days, and years on clocks and calendars is a steady, measurable phenomenon. Yet our perception of time shifts constantly, depending on the activities we’re engaged in, our age, and even how much rest we get. An upcoming paper in the journal European Review by Duke University mechanical engineering professor Adrian Bejan, explains the physics behind changing senses of time and reveals why the years seem to fly by the older we get. (The paper, sent to Quartz by its author, has been peer-reviewed, edited, and has been approved for publication but a date has not yet been set.)